Valley sugar cane crop looking sweet

The annual sugar cane harvest is starting in the Rio Grande Valley and growers there expect a strong season, with 1,500-more acres harvested and 65,000 additional tons of sugar cane produced this year than last.

“A wetter-than-average summer had a positive impact on our crops this year,” Steve Bearden, president of the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, said Friday. “Over the next six months, we’ll be harvesting about 43,000 acres, producing about 41 tons of sugar cane per acre.”

The growers cooperative consists of 126 farmers in Hidalgo, Cameron and Willacy counties. Texas is one of 42 states that produces sugar for the nation’s $21.1 billion sugar industry.